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Things also got delayed due to the swinging arm going missing (a long story, but I gave it to a mate to weld the hugger bracket on and he found a bit of rot, so gave it to a local fabricator to weld - the trouble was my mate disappeared off to Spain and I didn't know where he had dropped it...

I've been rubbish at updating this build. To be fair though, I have been fairly busy with other things and have just been tinkering around with things. The carbs have been stripped, cleaned & balanced (just need to polish the carb bodies). Whilst I had them apart the jets were upgraded (guessed...

Cheers Cheers Your not far wrong, Guy Martin is his hero.

Rear Hugger/Swing Arm/Bevel Box Rear Hugger/Swing Arm/Bevel Box The next job is to finish off the back end. The bevel box has been repainted, re-greased and flushed/refilled with some Motul synthetic 75W90 oil. I need to get a bracket welded onto the swinging arm, then it can be repainted and...

Engine & Frame Repaint Engine & Frame Repaint I thought about having the frame powder coated but to be honesty, all it needed was a lick of paint. I decided to paint it with Hammerite smooth anti rust paint. The engine was also dropped from the bike and repainted. I did want to polish it back...

Radiator pics Some more pics of the radiator

Radiator refurb and electric fan conversion Radiator refurb and electric fan conversion Whilst the radiator was off the bike, it has been flushed and repainted. I also decided to polish up the brass top part of the radiator rather than repaint it and it looks very smart. I also decided to do...

I've spent some time rebuilding the Marzocchi Strada shocks. All the seals have been replaced, the springs powder coated, bodies painted, new bushes and new decals applied. They have been refilled with some quality suspension fluid (Fuchs Silkolene Pro RSF 5w).

I've been a bit rubbish in updating this build but the bike has made some progress. Here's the completed front end. A Tarozzi fork brace has been added and the front mudguard cut down and powder coated.

Instrument Binnacle Instrument Binnacle To give it a real Café racer look, the standard instrument binnacle, headlamp & nacelle/fairing have been removed. I wanted to retain the standard speedo because of the low mileage, so was thinking of getting something fabricated to hold the instruments...

Spooky, plus one of my buddies has a Bonneville like yours.

Cheers buddy. He really enjoys helping and it keeps him off his Xbox ;D. In fact he now wants to be a truck mechanic when he leaves school. Plus he is really looking forward to watching the TT races next year and ride the TT course on mad Sunday.

Taper Roller Headset Upgrade Taper Roller Headset Upgrade Whilst the forks were off, I decided to upgrade the headset bearings with some taper roller bearings. I prefer Timken roller bearings, but having measured the headset tube, I found that I would require non standard bearings, so I had to...

Front Wheel Refurb Front Wheel Refurb I thought about converting the wheels to spoked ones, but the standard fit Comstar's are fairly iconic (one of the 1st tubeless wheels fitted to a production bike), so these were refurbed. It would have been too tricky to take them back to the bare allow...

Fork Rebuild Fork Rebuild The forks were in reasonable condition, but to try and improve the handing of the bike, I have stripped them down and rebuild them. The were tested and found to be straight. Whist rebuilding them, they were fitted with some Hagon progressive springs, some 15 wt...

Shocks I was planning of using some Hagon shocks, but the bike came fitted with some lovely Marzocchi Strada piggy back shocks. These were standard fitment on late 70's/early 80s Ducati's, Hesketh's and even the last of the Meriden Triumph Bonneville's, so they have some pedigree. I need to...

I have already started ripping her down (by the looks of it I also need to tidy the garage ;D ). I'm probably going to do this in an unconventional way by rebuilding the front (wheel, suspension, brakes and clocks), then the rear (wheel, suspension, swing arm etc), the engine & battery...

Honda CX 500 Café Build I've been wanting to do a Café project for a while and finally decided on a CX500 after discovering a barn find, a 1981 CX500B (last of the twin shock models) . She's a bit rough cosmetically but the frame is solid with no rust and the engine runs as sweet as a nut. Low...